Sydney Woman Describes Parents' "Putrid Acts Of Torture"

Newsroom

Posted on September 23, 2016
by Deirdre Fogarty

The horrifying abuse a Sydney woman suffered at the hands of her parents has been heard at Sydney's District Court.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described the 14 years worth of "putrid acts of torture" her mother and father inflicted on her; from the age of five, she was locked in a shed and in a tiny box, was raped, hit and mutilated and was regularly threatened with death.

At Thursday's sentencing hearing - following the father's July conviction of 73 child sex offences and the mother's 13 counts of acting indecently towards her own child - the woman and her sister, who was also abused, delivered their victim impact statements to the court.

"My mother didn't stop him and did not protect me. My childhood was lost and I can never get it back."

She continued: "My focus, my goal throughout my childhood was to survive and to satisfy [my father's] needs so that he wasn't angry.

"If that meant [competing at sport] or pleasing him sexual ways, that is what it meant.

"Now, on this day and every day for the rest of my life, I have to find some way to move on from his abuse."

During the trial, which has been described by those involved as the "worst case of child abuse" they had ever heard, the court heard how the eldest daughter, who had been a promising athlete, had first been molested while her mother was in hospital giving birth to her sibling.

Her father would regularly tie her up, leaving her inside the northern NSW property's chicken coop for days at a time; during the periods of torture, she would be forced to sleep on the floor, would not be fed and missed school.

The court was also told that, at first, she was surrounded by barbed wire to keep her still but, as she got older, was instead locked in a tiny box usually used for storing sporting gear.

During the abuse, her father repeatedly told her "all I've ever wanted is to be a good father" and that "I can do what I want to you. I own you."